Love Eternal
by Rhadeya
Summary: The 'missing' Kili & Tauriel scenes from BotFA


**Author's Notes: **In the book, the Dwarves were in Mirkwood for several weeks, so to help with the T/K love, I've added that back in :) Sort of the unseen scenes I really wanted there to be for these two :) Reviews/Comments always welcome :-D

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><p>I've done it, I've saved him. He's going to live.<p>

He's sleeping now, the worst of the poison drawn from the wound in his thigh by my healing. Other races call it _magic_ but it is just our gift, in the same way that Dwarves can coax the rocky depths to give up their precious gems and metals. His kin are sleeping in the next room, at ease now that the danger has passed and their brother is no longer dying. The question he asked, of whether I could have loved him, when the poison fever had him in its grip, still echoes in my mind, for I know that I do love him, with all of my heart and soul.

My heart hammers in my chest as I look down at him, my fingertips gently brushing a stray lock of dark hair from his face. He stirs at my touch, his eyes fluttering open a moment later.

'I had a dream,' he whispers, staring at the ceiling. 'A flame haired Goddess came to me, her green eyes full of love. She saved me from death with her magic.'

'Did she indeed?' I query.

'But it wasn't a dream, was it?' he asks, his voice surprisingly soft as he turns his head and focuses on me. His hand captures mine in a loose grip, allowing me to pull away if I want to.

'No,' I reply quietly, giving him a shy smile as I entwine my fingers with his.

'You saved me,' he says, no doubt or questioning in his voice. 'Why?'

'I couldn't lose you,' I tell him quietly, lowering my gaze. I cannot look at him, for fear that I might see pity or derision in his eyes.

'Why?' he asks again gently, his fingers under my chin trembling as he forces me to look at him.

Can I really tell him that during the weeks he was held in our dungeons, I fell in love with him? Can I admit that I, a Silvan Elf and the head ranger of the Greenwood, have fallen in love with a Dwarf? Not entirely enemies but certainly not friends, our union would be abhorrent to both sides and we would be ostracised from our races forever.

'Because life without you would be unbearable,' I confess softly, meeting his gaze fully and seeing only curiosity, and something I can't quite decipher.

'And the world without you would be a dark and lifeless place,' he smiles at me. I raise my hand to caress his cheek, the prickly stubble against my palm sending an unexpected shiver of pleasure down my spine. His keen brown eyes widen as he sees my reaction, and before I know what is happening, he pulls me down to him. His lips claim mine roughly as his fingers thread into my hair, allowing me no escape from his attentions.

'You need to rest,' I admonish breathlessly, breaking away from the kiss with regret.

'I will rest when this is over,' he tells me huskily. 'I do not know when we might have another moment like this, all alone, and I want to make the most of it.' With a strength surprising for one who was at death's door a mere hour ago, he pulls me back down and rolls us, pinning me against the threadbare rug in front of the fire. Clothes take mere seconds to be shed as our passions flare, the desire to be one a desperate need that has to be satisfied. My skin feels as though it is on fire where he touches me, molten lava running through my veins instead of blood.

The musky scent of his skin, mixed with desire and the earthy smell of smoke from the fire, is a heady mixture that has me completely at his mercy. Elves are no strangers to the pleasures of the flesh; despite the fact that the other races see us as being cold and unfeeling, we give our bodies to each other freely, bonding only when we find another who shares our soul. Although he is considered young among his race, Kili is a skilled and passionate lover, and we spend the rest of the night taking each other to heights of passion neither of us has experienced before.

##

Crouching down against the dark shale of the hillside, a shiver runs down my spine as I look out over the imposing fortress in the distance. A queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach has me unsettled and I can't help but think that something is wrong. A week has passed since Kili and his kin left for the mountain and I miss him terribly. I know that, when this crisis is over, I will leave my home and go wherever he is, because I cannot bear to live without him. I believe he feels the same way, otherwise why would he have told me he loves me and given me his promise rune stone? I shake my head, focusing on the present and the task at hand.

Large bats, bred solely for use in war, circle over the mountains upon which the fortress is built. They appear ready to support the legions of Orcs which have begun streaming out of the darkness, heading towards the kingdom the dwarves have so recently reclaimed.

'What can we do? I ask, turning to my companion.

'We need to warn the dwarves,' he replies quietly, turning to face me. His blue eyes search my face and I can see he is desperate to question me as to why I have been so quiet on the journey. He is my fellow Ranger but he is also my friend; if he asks, I will tell him of my plans to leave. Unfortunately he is also my Prince, the only son of my King, and he has an inappropriate attachment to me that goes beyond friendship, for him at least.

'We must hurry,' I agree, quietly making my way back to our horse. My haste is more than just a desire to warn the Dwarves of the danger approaching, but also to see my beloved Kili. Now I have made my choice, to be with him, the wait until I will see him again seems like forever.

##

Kneeling by his side, as his life blood slowly seeps into the cold stone, I gather his hand in mine and hold it tightly. My breath hitches in my chest as his eyes find mine, the look in them telling me he knows he is beyond saving this time. No amount of my healing can repair the mortal wound in his chest, and both of us are only too aware of that fact. My throat is dry and sore as I try in vain to hold back the tears that are making my vision blurry.

'I can't lose you,' I tell him with a sob, as the tears began to flow.

'It's ok,' he comforts me, squeezing my hand gently. 'How many can say they have loved as deeply as I have loved you? How many can claim to have loved the most beautiful Elf in the world?'

'But, Kili,' I begin to protest, needing to tell him my secret. He weakly raises his right hand from his side and strokes my cheek, wiping away the black Orc blood splattered across it.

'Tauriel, I know our love will live on, as long as you live,' he smiles. 'And my line will continue.' He lowers his hand from my cheek and places it, almost reverently, flat against my stomach. I draw in a deep breath, stunned at how he could possibly know I'm pregnant when I only figured it out in the week since we left Gundabad.

I can taste the salt of my tears and the acrid tint of copper from blood. The smells of smoke, blood and death fill the air, but in this moment, nothing exists but us. In this moment we are one heart, one soul; in this moment, we are a family, together despite the differences or quarrels of our respective races. I don't care how he knows that I carry our child, it is enough that he will go on to the next life knowing our love has been blessed.

'It is twins,' I tell him, my voice wavering with tears. 'A boy and a girl.'

'Tali and Kiriel,' he replies, his voice barely more than a whisper now. He is slipping away from me and there's nothing I can do to hold him here with me any longer.

'Both good names, for children blessed to have you as their father,' I say to him, my tears falling unchecked onto his chest. 'I love you, Kili, son of Durin.'

'And I love you, Tauriel, my Goddess of the Greenwood,' he whispers, his eyes holding mine as he takes his last, agonised breaths.

I don't want to look as he leaves me, but I cannot bear to think that his last sight would be of anything but the love in my eyes. He breathes out a weak breath but does not draw in another, and I know he's finally at peace. The light of life, laughter and love fades from his eyes and the hand he had pressed against my stomach falls away, resting heavily against my thigh.

'Tauriel?' A voice in the shadows, calling my name but loaded with such questions that I cannot answer. I look up to see my Prince standing in the doorway, the broken stone around him splattered with Kili's blood. His eyes tell me he knows that my love can never be his, that my love had left this world with the passing of the one whose eyes I close tenderly. He says something about Kili's kin wanting to bury him, the thought of which makes me shudder. He should be placed on a grand pyre and set aflame, his soul released into the sky to be amongst the starlight. The weight of his stare leaves me and my sharp hearing makes out the murmur of voices as he leaves, his future path now uncertain. I just make out that he says he cannot return home, and I feel a pang of guilt because I know that is my fault.

Silence descends for a few brief moment, before I hear the gentle pad of footsteps in the doorway. I look up again to see my King standing where his son had been moments before. The face that I had always thought of as being as cold as stone carries a look of sympathy that I cannot bear to look at.

'If this is love, I do not want it!' I cry, my voice breaking. 'Take it from me, please!' I beg of him, lowering my eyes so as not to see the pity in his eyes.

'Why does it hurt so much?' I plead, needing to know why it feels as though my soul is being ripped apart.

'Because it was real,' comes his soft reply, his voice filled with sympathy and understanding. I look up to see him knelt in front of me, his eyes sparkling with un-shed tears, and I suddenly understand his seeming coldness for the six centuries I've been his ward. He knows this pain, he has felt it himself after the death of his Queen. He has lived nearly two thousand years carrying the same agony that I feel now, left to raise his child alone, as I will have to do.

'Does it ever ease?' I ask him, seeing him now as a man in mourning, rather than as my cold and aloof King.

'No,' he tells me honestly, his voice breaking as a single tear rolls down his pale cheek.

A strange, otherworldly sound comes to my ears, like the roar of thunder and the forlorn howl of a dying wolf. It takes a moment for me to realise that the sound is coming from me. My King's soft spoken, sympathetic words echo around my mind. Because it was real. It was real. I loved him and I was prepared to die for that love, for the one I loved. If I could trade places with him, I would do so in a heartbeat. But I cannot.

'Why?' I demand of the uncaring landscape around me. But no answer comes to comfort me, no reason for snatching away my only happiness. The snow falls heavier, the wind swirling it around us as flakes begin to settle on his cooling skin.

'WHY?' I shout into the fading light of day, the wind picking up around us as the word turns into little more than a pained moan. Clutching his cold hand, I scream my agonised fury and desolation into the raging blizzard, watched over by one who knows the depth of my loss.


End file.
